Day 30, Aug 1

It was raining steadily when we left Fort Nelson around 9. We drove out of it fairly quickly though.  The road again varied from being smooth with wide shoulders to rough with no shoulders. We got behind an RV that was going at least 20 km below the speed limit. He built up a long line of traffic behind him but he made no attempt to pull off into one of the many turnoffs to let traffic go by. We eventually passed him on a narrow section. Luckily there is not usually much traffic except in situations like that. 

We stopped at Tetsa River Campground for their world famous cinnamon buns. Unfortunately, everyone in the caravan who left before us had stopped there. They had not been informed that a caravan was coming through and had only done one batch. Luckily, another batch was to be ready in 30 minutes so we waited and chatted with some of the caravan folks. By the way, the buns lived up to the billing!

By the time we got on the road again, the sky had cleared considerably and we were rewarded with stunning views of the Rockies. There were folds in the rock where the Continental shelf got caught in the squeeze when North America started moving westward 175 million years ago. 

We drove alongside rivers that were raging and milky white and others that were turquoise. This area has received unusually high rainfall this year and water levels are high. And we saw a black bear quite close up at the side of the road. 

Our destination today was Strawberry Flats in Muncho Lake Provincial Park. The lake is 12km long and 1.6 km wide and is a beautiful deep green and blue. The lake is at least 122 m deep. The campground is on a first come first served basis and when we arrived around 1 pm there were several sites to choose from. Most of them back onto the lake. It is as beautiful as we remember it from 28 years ago. It rained off and on for most of the afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some consistently clear skies so that we can get the canoe in the water.